Hi, I'm new to the forum but hope someone can help me figure out this problem. I have a 3 year old female GSD who has started nipping at my 8 year old son. It can happen when he's walking by ignoring her or when either gets excited. She only jumps and nips at my oldest son and is great with my younger children(5 and 2). She does have a high drive and is from working lines. It doesn't appear to be aggressive but excitement. She sort of seems to egg him on if that makes sense. We've had her to obedience classes when she was a pup and she did well but this is fairly new and I'm worried. Tonight she left two marks on on my son side from her incisors. There wasn't any blood but she broke a few layers on skin. What can I do? I'm guessing this is a family status issue? I'm afraid for my son but I love my dog and don't want to get rid of her unless it's absolutely necessary. Any suggestions on how to help both of them get along?

Maybe this is a crazy idea, but could your son have started playing rough with her recently? I know 8 year olds can be a handful - lol, there's an understatement for you! But if she's only just started this, and it's exclusive to him, that's what springs to my mind.

He's not rough with her but he is shrieky, loud and bouncy, and it gets Bell going pretty quickly, but then so are the other 2 younger kids. The 5 year old is the loudest by far and he gets a slurp while the eight year old gets nipped. My husband thinks she sees my oldest as closer in status to her and is challenging him.

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